Finding aid for the Cleveland Newspaper Guild, Local 1 Records

History of the Clevelnad Newspaper Guild, Local 1

The Cleveland Newspaper Guild, Local #1 (f. 1934) was the first chartered local of the American Newspaper Guild, founded in 1933. Editorial employees of the Cleveland Press and Cleveland News had organized in 1933 as The Cleveland Editorial Workers Association, which instructed its executive committee, in October of 1933, to affiliate with newspaper guilds in other cities, to the end of forming a national association and a national convention to be held in Cleveland, Ohio. In December 1933, a national convention was called to Washington, D.C. and the American Newspaper guild was formed, with Heywood Broun, columnist at the New York World-Telegram, as the first president. The charter and bylaws adopted by the Guild were largely those of the Cleveland Editorial Workers Association, which had limited membership to editorial employees. During the Great Depression, the American Newspaper Publishers Association had lobbied successfully for the classification of editorial employees as "professionals", and therefore exempt from minimum wage and hour provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act. Editorial employees received pay cuts totaling 35% by 1933 and the average salary for a reporter was $29 a week. The need for a union of editorial workers was realized, particularly since the NIRA had required that the "no pay-cut" clauses of craft union contracts remain in force. In 1934, the first contract of the American Newspaper Guild was successfully negotiated with the Cleveland News by William Davy, executive secretary of the Cleveland Newspaper Guild. In 1935, the national convention of the American Newspaper Guild was held in Cleveland. The convention adopted a resolution favoring the industrial-union form of organization and amended the constitution to state that one of the guild's purposes was "to promote industrial unionism in the newspaper industry." In 1937, the guild expanded its jurisdiction to include all non-mechanical employees in order to strengthen the union in its coming battles with publishers. Although the guild had been chartered by the American Federation of Labor in 1936, Heywood Broun had wanted it to affiliate with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, with the entire newspaper industry under the same contract. In 1937, a referendum of the membership instructed the guild to leave the AFL and affiliate with the CIO. In 1936, the Guild negotiated a contract with the Cleveland Press which set a precedent for future collective bargaining for the entire Scripps-Howard chain. By 1944, the editorial rooms of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Catholic Universe Bulletin became units of the Cleveland Newspaper Guild. Subsequent units of the guild included the Cleveland Citizen and the Cleveland Union Leader, the King Features Syndicate (Central Press), Newspaper Enterprises Association (NEA), an At-Large unit, and the Call & Post unit, organized in 1963. In 1968, the Canton Repository became a unit of the Cleveland Newspaper Guild and in 1969, the Massillon Evening Independent local merged with the guild. Local #1 has been involved in several strikes of Cleveland newspapers, beginning in 1946. In 1956, a strike caused the publishing of a triple-masthead newspaper. In 1962-1963, a 129 day strike occurred in an effort to secure a closed shop in the business department of the Cleveland Press. Although the guild failed to achieve the union shop in 1962-1963, it was later obtained in all active units of the guild, requiring membership and payment of dues within 30 days of employment. During most of the strike of 1962-1963, Local #1 itself published the Cleveland Record as an effort to circumvent a virtual news blackout throughout the Cleveland area. In 1963, William Davy, executive secretary of the Cleveland Newspaper Guild for its first 30 years, retired and was succeeded by Jack Weir. In 1978, Stephen Hatch succeeded Weir as executive secretary. At the national convention in Cleveland in 1968, Davy pointed to the existence of 12-15 separate unions in the newspaper industry and called for the American Newspaper Guild to merge with a larger organization if the separate unions within the industry did not merge. At the 50th Anniversary convention of the guild, also held in Cleveland in 1983, the membership voted overwhelmingly to merge with the International Typographical Union to form a new union, the Media Workers International Union, with over 70,000 members.

click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for the Cleveland Newspaper Guild, Local 1

click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for the Cleveland Newspaper Strike of 1962

Scope and Content

The Cleveland Newspaper Guild, Local #1 Records, 1933-1983, consist of minutes, notices, general office files, membership files, correspondence, financial files and newspaper clippings pertaining to the history, administration, and daily activity of Local #1 and its units, as well as conventions and affiliations with other locals of the American Newspaper Guild. The collection also contains files regarding Local #1's activities as part of the Cleveland and Ohio AFL-CIO, as well as awards to members of Local #1 for merit and service towards print journalism and The American Newspaper guild.

This collection pertains to the history, activities, and administration of the first editorial newspaper union in Cleveland, Ohio, and the first bona fide white-collar union in the United States. It is important for an understanding of the labor movement in Cleveland, in Ohio, and in the United States since the Great Depression, particularly in regard to labor organizing, collective bargaining, and strikes. By virtue of the activity files relating to Local #1's involvement with other locals of the American Newspaper Guild, the collection is valuable with respect to national labor organizing activity, various strike situations, and the activity of the labor movement on a number of levels.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Access

None.

The researcher should also consult PG 391 Cleveland Newspaper Guild, Local 1 Photographs.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Preferred Citation

[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4299 Cleveland Newspaper Guild, Local 1 Records, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquisition Information

The Cleveland Newspaper Guild, Local #1, 1985.

Processing Information

Processed by Robert Ray in 1988.

Detailed Description of The Collection